Acorn

A stricter Extra Curricular Activities Board has left Theme Houses feeling alienated. Due to new enforcement of the ECAB constitution policies, Theme Houses cannot petition for funds.

�ECAB had previously been our main source of funds for large programs,� Spirituality House Assistant senior Kate Milke, said. �In the past, they have not�enforced this policy, and we�ve been able to ad hoc.�

The policy restricting Theme Houses from petitioning for funds is not new, but is being enforced because of the �new eyes� of Program Coordinator for Student Activities Leigh Ann Walters and ECAB chair Katrina Samaniego-both in their second years in their respective positions.

Theme Houses are allocated $300 for each year by Residence Life.

Through the year, members must use that money to plan 20 programs, �that is $15 per program,� Milke said.

To get around this, Theme Houses can petition for funds if the program is co-sponsored by an ECAB-recognized club, Walters said.

One example of this is La Casa�s Dia De Los Muertos, which was co-sponsored by more than five organizations. However, Milke feels that continuous co-sponsoring prevents the house from standing alone as a programming body.

�We have been struggling with the new system of getting money, but have been trying to find creative ways to get around it,��Milke said.

�Recently several of our members are trying to form a Spirituality Club, through this club, we could ad hoc.�

To avoid increased reliance on clubs, the Theme House Living Council is working with both the Residence Hall Association and Associate Dean of Educational and Student Affairs Frank Merckx to increase Residence Life funding for Theme Houses.� �We are trying to make the RHA the ECAB for Theme Houses,� Milke said. Walters, she says, is also open to helping any Theme House find organizations to co-sponsor events.

Walters would not disclose the total ECAB budget, however, she did say that it is mostly made up of student activity fees.

She oversees the budget concerns of the board, ensuring that 40 to 65 percent of the overall ECAB budget is distributed to all ECAB-recognized student activities.

The clubs request a certain amount and the student-run board tries to meet the club�s need.

�We always have more requests than we can give out,� Walters said. The rest of their budget is reserved for fund petitions.

According to Samaniego, there are �no guarantees� when it comes to petitioning for funds. �The four category representatives hash it out,� Samaniego said.

�I don�t even vote. I�m just there to make sure everything�s adhering to our constitution.�

Petitioning for funds is helpful when an organization wants to reserve their budget for larger, more traditional events, according to Samaniego.

Instead, they use ECAB money for smaller side projects and programs. The exact budget for each club is decided by the members of the board, made up of representatives from different academic, belief, cultural and service organizations.

The more student organizations, the less each club gets from the ECAB budget, according to Walters.

One of the highlights of ECAB, is that it is student-run. �They are the ones who live the Drew life,� she said.

�So it only makes sense they control what happens and what doesn�t.�

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